What's a pair of thrill-seeking snowboarders to do when
there's no snow on the ground and no clouds in sight? If
you're Jason Lee and Patrick McConnell, you invent the
MountainBoard. With a deck similar to a snowboard, all-terrain
wheels, and a suspension system that can be used to go down a
single trail or track on a mountain, the MountainBoard hit the
market in 1996 and helped Lee and McConnell bring in sales of $2
million last year for their Colorado Springs, Colorado, company,
MountainBoard Sports (MBS).

Not too shabby, considering Lee, 32, and McConnell, 35, were
introducing a totally new market category on a limited budget. What
made it possible is that the company targeted a very specific
market: "men 16 to 20 who like to snowboard," Lee states
emphatically. Having a clearly defined market in mind gave MBS
advantages in launching its product, including rapid retail
acceptance at trade shows, the ability to create a substantial
market buzz, a clear content strategy for its Web site, the ability
to stage events, and an easy-to-implement media strategy.
Here's a closer look at their company's marketing
tactics:

Trade Shows

MBS launched its major marketing campaign at the 1996 Action
Sports Retailer Trade Show and at the Snowsports Industry Trade
Show. These shows allowed MBS to build its distribution network of
specialty snowboard, surfer and skateboard retail shops. What did
the shops like about the pair? They gave them what they
wanted-products for their adrenaline-junkie
customers.

Specialty shops offered another major advantage to MBS. Knowing
their target customers like to try out products before buying them,
the shops were willing to rent out the MountainBoards-and
that willingness was a huge contributor to MBS' early sales
success.

Hold Your Horses

Trade shows are an effective tool for introducing a product to
retailers, but they're also expensive, notes Douglas L. Ducate,
president and CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research or www.gotoexhibitions.com, 312-808-2347), a nonprofit
group that offers helpful "how-to" packages for
first-time exhibitors. Even a plain exhibit costs $2,000, and that
doesn't include your travel expenses, shipping costs and
promotional materials. Often, your expenses will run $5,000 to
$10,000, which is not necessarily a bad investment, as 75 percent
of attendees typically leave a show with at least one purchase, and
85 percent either decide what to buy or will be influenced in a
purchase decision. Many inventors attend trade shows too early,
before they're ready to ship products. All that does is turn
buyers off because they're at the show intending to buy. Jason
Lee and Patrick McConnell made the right choice. They waited three
years before attending a show-with ready supply.

Market Buzz

Lee and McConnell created the All Terrain Boarding Association
in 1994. While their first competition was small-only six
competitors-what was important was that the race attracted
the attention of their target customers, who then started to look
for the product and talk it up among their thrill-seeking friends.
This word-of-mouth effect is typical of tight target markets.
Prospects know each other, and they talk about what's exciting
in the market. As Lee says, "We sold almost $1 million our
first year because we had people talking."

Web Site Content

As you know, people don't go out of their way to visit a Web
site unless it has information they need. Lee and McConnell nailed
this one, too, with www.mountainboard.com. Information about the board,
upcoming races and new ways to generate thrills are par for the
course here; their target customers crave this information on a
regular basis. Plus, when prospects visit the site, they're
exposed to more information about MBS' products.

Events

Big events create market awareness, adding credibility to the
company and helping to promote a new product. Most new inventor
companies don't have the resources to stage events and need a
partner. That's the same boat Lee and McConnell were in. But
they found a willing partner at Snow Valley Ski Resort in Big Bear,
California, a resort that catered to MBS' target market. Snow
Valley has a large terrain park for snowboarders and an expansive
skate park. Lee explains his success with Snow Valley as follows:
"We didn't need to make a full presentation to Snow
Valley. They're on the cutting edge. They didn't need much
convincing to give mountainboarding a try because it was geared
toward their customers."

Advertising And Publicity

Lee says that MBS has focused its past publicity efforts on
magazines for bikers, surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders. Most
inventors have difficulty getting advertising to pay off because
they have to advertise to a broad market to reach a group of
prospects. For example, an inventor of a product for keeping
gutters clear will advertise in home and garden magazines, where
only 5 to 10 percent of the readers may be interested. That's
not a problem with MBS. At least 50 percent of the readers of these
magazines will be interested in a new extreme sport.

Lee and McConnell had a clearly defined target group, which
allowed them to target retailers and other businesses that catered
to the same group. That group also shared several other important
characteristics that improved MBS' chances of success. First of
all, they were easy to identify-through the products they
bought, the events they attended and the magazines they read. But
perhaps more important was this group's overwhelming desire to
participate in extreme sports-every retailer in the market
was ready to feed that need as the group had proved its purchasing
power through the sales of snowboards, surfboards and skateboards.
Retailers wanted MBS' products because they knew the sales
potential if the market adopted them. Put these factors together,
and you have ideal conditions for an inventor's
success-conditions that Lee and McConnell took advantage
of.

Steal The Shows

Lee and McConnell found specialty retailers willing to give
their product a try-not all inventors are so lucky. One way
to build retailer support is to attend consumer shows such as ski
demonstrations, sportsmen shows, home and garden shows, bridal
shows or any event that includes your target audience. Approach
your potential retail customers before the show, and tell them
you'll pass out fliers and other information about their stores
at the show as long as they stock your product. Retailers are
usually willing to do this if they feel the inventor will create a
demand for it. Inventors may lose a percentage of their profits if
the sale goes through a retailer, but they'll be better off in
the long run establishing that their product is a winner on
retailers' shelves. Trade show directories at your local
library will often list consumer shows, or you can go to any of
these Web sites: www.tsnn.com, www.scheduleearth.com and www.entrepreneur.com.

Don Debelak is a
new-business marketing consultant who has been introducing new
products for more than 20 years. He is the author of Bringing
Your Product to Market (John Wiley & Sons, $19.95,
800-225-5945).

Creating a MAP will take no more than an hour of your time every month and will keep the lines of communication open, ensuring relationships with investors remain strong, and ultimately helping early-stage startups succeed.